| I left work in Chiswick at 4:15, headed through Ealing where the snow was already falling, and promptly had someone run into the back of me (no damage though).
Made it onto the A40 which wasn't too bad and onto the M25 in the roadworks. Still snowing but not bad, made it to J20, A41 only about 15 minutes later than usual.
Set off up the A41 and instantly realised I was in trouble, road untreated, pure ice with snow falling on top. Getting up the hills was nigh-on impossible. Made it as far as the Hemel Hempsted turn and dropped down into Hemel which was total gridlock. Spent 3 hours getting through Hemel and finally was on my way up the old A41 to Berkhamstead, and although it was now 9:30ish, and the road was frozen, I was making good progress, up to 15mph at times.
Finally got to Cow Roast, 3 miles South of Tring around 10:15, I could almost smell home from there, and then the fun really started. There was one last hill up to Tring... and no-one was getting up that! Luckily there were 2 sets of guys in 4x4s towing people up the hill, just a case of waiting to get to the front of the queue and getting a tow....
Finally made it home at 11:40.... 7hr 25 for a journey I can normally do in 1hr15 ar rush hour, or 50 mins at other times...
Needless to say, I'm not in work today! Lucky really as I'm told the A41 is still closed!
Cheers
Martin |